Man tries to abduct girl by Vista school

VISTA  A man driving a black Toyota pickup truck attempted to kidnap a 10-year-old student on Monday afternoon in front of a Vista elementary school, the girl’s mother said.

The girl, a fifth-grade student at Foothill Oak Elementary, was sitting in front of the school on a curb waiting for her mother to pick her up when the man pulled up to her in the truck about 3 p.m. He told the girl his mother had told him to pick up her up and told her to get in the truck, said Javae Sanchez, the girl’s mother.

She refused and ran into the school office and called her mother. The man immediately drove off.

Shortly before, the man had driven by and stared at the girl while she was working as a volunteer crossing guard as school let out, Sanchez said Wednesday. The school is on Oak Drive near Foothill Drive.

The girl described him as black, in his 30s, with a muscular build and a tattoo on his left arm. He had brown eyes, short hair, was clean-shaven and had what appeared to be a bruise near one eye, Sanchez said.

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating, and a deputy was stationed at the school on Tuesday, Sanchez said.